M6:2906 — گفت ما گشتیم چون جان بند طین / آفتاب جان توی در یوم دین

Translation: Said he: "We became as the soul bound by clay; / You are the Sun of the Soul on the Day of Reckoning."

Meaning: The human soul, after exhausting its finite efforts and becoming entangled in the material world, finally acknowledges the Divine as the sole source of illumination and salvation on the ultimate day of judgment and truth.

This couplet, spoken by a thief who recognized Sultan Mahmud in the dark of night, serves as a powerful metaphor for the mystic's audacious address to the Divine. The thief, in Soroush's reading, embodies the ʿarif (gnostic) who, amidst the 'night of nature' and the clamor of the world, has come to know the God of creation. This profound intimacy grants the thief an unusual audacity (gustaakh-gu'i) in their speech, as if they are the very tongue and soul of the Sultan himself. This station of fearless articulation stems from an unmediated closeness to God, echoing the sacred tradition (Hadith al-Nawafil) where God states: "My servant continues to draw near to Me through supererogatory acts until I love him, and then I become his hearing with which he hears, and his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks." This is the spiritual rank where, as Imam Khomeini put it, "through worship, one can become Allah" – meaning one can become so imbued with the Divine Being that one's words become His own.

The first hemistich, "We became as the soul bound by clay," describes the human condition. "Bound by clay" (band-i ṭīn) refers to the entanglement of the soul in the physical body and the material world. "We became" (mā gashtīm) signifies our human endeavors, our exertion of all our limited capacities; yet, these human efforts and 'arts' (honarhā), far from leading us to our ultimate goal, often increase our wretchedness and heedlessness (ghaflat). Soroush asserts that these worldly skills, our intellect and stratagems, are in fact like 'ropes of palm fiber' (ḥabl-i masad, a Quranic allusion from Surah Al-Masad) around our necks – bonds that trap us in self-admiration and delusion. Philosophy, for instance, which presumes to reach truth through reason, is, for Mawlana, a prime example of such an 'art' that distances rather than draws one closer, enmeshing the individual in a veil of concepts and mental constructs. We fail to transition from concept to direct vision, from knowing to seeing.

Subsequently, with "You are the Sun of the Soul on the Day of Reckoning," the servant turns towards Absolute Truth. "Sun of the Soul" (āftāb-i jān) metaphorically refers to God, the source and illuminator of all souls. "Day of Reckoning" (Yawm-i Dīn) is not merely the literal Day of Judgment but can also signify any 'day' when truths are unveiled and humans face ultimate accountability – a moment when one confronts all their worldly achievements against the backdrop of infinite Divine grace. This is a moment of humility, an acknowledgment of one's own inadequacy, and a plea for divine favor. Mawlana repeatedly emphasizes that without "the grace of God and His special ones," even an angel's 'scroll' (of deeds) would be 'black.' Our actions, however virtuous, require the 'final touch' of the Divine for the 'copper' of our existence to transmute into pure 'gold,' thus gaining weight in the scales of judgment.

Key takeaways

• Profound mystical closeness to God fosters a loving audacity in speech, allowing the mystic to address the Divine with bold familiarity.
• Human endeavors and 'arts,' though seemingly empowering, can ensnare us in heedlessness and ego without divine grace.
• Only God is the 'Sun of the Soul' (āftāb-i jān); the ultimate source of light, truth, and salvation for the spirit.
• The 'Day of Reckoning' (Yawm-i Dīn) is the moment when humanity recognizes its utter fragility and God's self-sufficiency, turning to His grace for salvation.
• Our deeds and achievements, however virtuous, are but raw copper; they require the alchemy of divine grace to transform into pure gold.